Posted on 10/23/2005 12:06:32 AM PDT by GretchenM
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A majority of adults support the biblical account of creation according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll -- the latest in a series of polls reflecting Americans' tendency to reject secular evolution.
In the poll, 53 percent of adults say "God created human beings in their present form exactly the way the Bible describes it." Another 31 percent believe humans "evolved over millions of years from other forms of life and God guided" the process. Twelve percent say humans "have evolved over millions of years from other forms of life, but God has no part."
The poll of 1,005 adults, conducted Sept. 8-11 and posted on Gallup's website Oct. 13, is but the latest survey showing Americans tend to reject a strictly secular explanation for the existence of life:
-- A Harris poll of 1,000 adults in June found that 64 percent believe "human beings were created directly by God," 22 percent say humans "evolved from earlier species" and 10 percent believe humans "are so complex that they required a powerful force or intelligent being to help create them." In another question, only 38 percent say humans "developed from earlier species."
-- An NBC News poll of 800 adults in March found that 44 percent believe in a biblical six-day creation, 13 percent in a "divine presence" in creation and 33 percent in evolution.
"Nobody starts out as a Darwinian evolutionist," said William Dembski, professor of science and theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and the author of "The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design."
"You start out with a wonder of creation, thinking that there's something beyond it. And then it has to be explained to you why there really is no wonder behind it."
The Gallup poll was released amidst a trial in Harrisburg, Pa., over whether Intelligent Design can be taught in a Pennsylvania school district. Intelligent Design says that patterns in nature are best explained by pointing to a creator (that is, intelligence). Supporters of the theory of Darwinian evolution have opposed Intelligent Design, saying it is not science. Evolution teaches, in part, that humans evolved over millions of years from apes.
But despite the fact that public schools are teaching evolution as fact, Americans are not buying it. A November 2004 poll of 1,016 adults found that 35 percent said evolution was "just one of many theories and one that has not been well-supported by evidence." Thirty-five percent said evolution was "well-supported by evidence," while 28 percent didn't know enough about evolution to answer. In addition, a February 2001 poll of 1,016 adults found that 48 percent said the "theory of creationism" best explained the origin of human beings while 28 percent said the "theory of evolution" made the most sense.
Reflecting the argument Paul makes in Romans 1, Dembski said the "beauty" and the "extravagance" of creation -- the "beautiful sunsets, flowers and butterflies" -- points to the existence of a creator.
"Unless you're really indoctrinated into an atheistic mindset, I think [the beauty of creation] is going to keep tugging at our hearts and minds," he said.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called the Gallup poll findings "incredible" and said they should be "encouraging" to conservative Christians. ...
Said Dembski: "The secularized education system ... is not being executed as effectively as the secular elites would like. So that's something that we have to be thankful for -- that a lot of schools are not implementing it and forcing it down kids' throats. But it's still happening, and as far as it happens, the indoctrination can be quite effective."
For example, Dembski said, there is little public outcry over PBS programs such as "Nature" that are publicly funded and regularly present evolution as fact. Also, Americans themselves seem conflicted over what to believe. An August Gallup poll found that 58 percent said creationism was definitely or probably true and 55 percent said evolution was definitely or probably true -- meaning that many of those surveyed saw no conflict between creationism and evolution. And the Harris poll that found only 22 percent of adults believing humans evolved from earlier species also found that 46 percent believe apes and humans have a "common ancestry."
Americans, Dembski said, often try to take a middle road by believing God guided evolution. Nevertheless, he said, the poll numbers are promising for Intelligent Design proponents who are making their case in the public square.
"I think anybody who is on the God-had-something-to-do-with-it side -- whether it's through a direct act of creation or through some sort of evolution process -- is likely to give Intelligent Design a second look,” Dembski said. “We have a great pool of people that we can appeal to.
The word vestigial, or remnant is relevant here.
...naaah. Too easy
I don't post my degree either, but I do post citations.
Your posts do not stand on their internal logic and have no plce to look to document either the reasoning or the data.
That doesn't work.
" Is there anything that surpasses the faith of a Biblical Literalist?"
There aren't really any bible litteralists because they are all selective in which parts they take literally - there is just too much in the bible that is either archaic (like the rules for selling your daughter into slavery), symbolic 9like the command to take up the serpents or impractical like the dietary rules or the command to "suffer not a witch to live."
I spent most of a half hour on google but could not find any reference to this.
(But I know know more than I ever wanted about the domestication history of chickens.)
"No I am not referring to the four corners of the earth. Credentials are useless in the face of reality. Those who tend to think themselves wise, tend to grant those who think like them credentials."
We have a saying in physics - "necessary but not sufficient."
Putting in the time to read and study the bible is necessary but not sufficient to speak authoritatively about what the bible has to say.
Grounding in basic scientific principles is necessary but not sufficient to argue effectively about science.
Often I'll use the term "Genesis literalist" since that seems, as you pointed out, to be the only part of the Bible that is actually taken literally by Creationists.
25% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth. (Source National Science Foundation, 2001)
False Assumptions of Radio Carbon dating
excerpt: With regards potassium argon dating of recent volcanic eruption material it must be pointed out that such material from Mt. St. Helens eruptions of the 1980's gave very old ages in the range of 300,000 to 2.7 million years. This is not only so for Mt. St. Helens but also for modern volcanism in Hawaii and New Zealand. It's then logical to ask the question, if you can not get the age right for modern volcanism how can you get a correct age for unknown magma such as that in Africa, from where our alleged ancestors came?
Now if you are truly interested in the subject, you will enjoy these sites. If you are just a priest saying a mantra, you will hate them.
Know what I hate? Doing research for people who refuse to learn so they can piss on the results and the researcher.
"25% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth. (Source National Science Foundation, 2001)"
Hey, if it makes them feel good, who are we to say they are wrong? I mean, it's only right that we consider all points of view in an educational setting. The the kids decide what is right and wrong. Teach the controversy!
(/blindingly stupid postmodernist/creationist/whole science mode)
I gagged on that and googled it.
This article:
Intelligent Design
http://d446119.po43.pogotek.com/Resources/contributions/050930_Berman.html
not only convinced me about the science ingnorace but also the malignant nature of ID
We were talking vestigial organs. Or maybe you forgot?
ingnorace =ignorance
I ususally don't correct typos if they don't disturb the meaning, I make too many. But this deservd highlighting. :->
That's why we have private schools.
It's the parents choice what and where they want there kids taught, not religious fanatics.
That is why teaching ID in public school is not O.K. If parents want this then go to Catholic school or the like.
Teach your children well.
It also would have drastically reduced the radiation from the sun and space, throwing off radio carbon dating world wide!
A near miss by an asteroid, or even a capture event could have unbalanced the entire structure and caused the ice rings to tumble into the gravity center. But this is the kicker, the ice would have come in at the poles, if it was super cooled, not the equator. Ice thickness tests of the polar caps show that the ice thickness is centered around the Magnetic Poles not the true poles. This clearly indicates that the Ice caps are not a weather phenomena, but a space borne phenomena! In other words, the Ice Age may be a one time event, and global warming is caused by Ice melting. Gasp, the world gets warmer when Ice melts, go figure.
Not politically correct science, but science none the less. And FUN! I love science.
My mistake; we were talking about vestigial organs about which you have not answered my assertions, but I also chimed in on your claim that scientists have dated elephant bones from modern specimens and egg shells of modern birds as being 100,000 old.
We are still waiting for any evidence of this. Please post a citation or move on.
That is why teaching ID in public school is required by law, because force collecting taxes to teach your religion by the state is an illegal violation of the separation of Church and State. If you want to teach Darwinism, pay for it yourself. Till then, teach all things that can be aruged intelegently and let the kids choose. Anything else is political or religious indoctrination.
On a level playing field, Creation Science holds its own, that is why Darwin based Humanists are so afraid of it.
Obviously we have moved on. See 137.
I, for one, am clearly not qualified to deal with such brilliance, covering so many diverse fields.
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